Roorkee: A team of researchers led by Prof. Soumitra Satapathi has developed a portable COVID-19 screening booth in collaboration with the Roorkee Nagar Nigam for sample collection of the suspects.
Prof. Manish Shrikhande, Dean Research, IIT Roorkee, in the presence of Municipal Commissioner Mrs. Nupur Verma, has handed-over this screening booth to Roorkee Civil hospital for installation and use by healthcare workers. Prof. K.L. Yadav, Head, Department of Physics and Dr. Alok Anand, Medical Officer, IIT Roorkee were also present on the occasion.
“IIT Roorkee’s telephone booth style screening platform will eliminate the need for costly PPE kit currently used for medical staff for screening COVID-19 patients,” said lead researcher Prof. Satapathi.
The booth can house medical personnel and is completely vacuum-sealed. It enables healthcare personnel collect the swab samples of the patient through long gloves and therefore eliminates the chances of any potential human contact. The whole sample collection procedure can be completed in five minutes. The booth will be sanitized after each sample collection.
The project has been financed by the Roorkee Municipal Corporation. The team of IIT Roorkee behind this innovation comprises research scholars Mr. Prathul Nath, Mr. Naveen Kumar Tailor, Ms. Tejasvini Sharma and Mr. Anshu Kumar from Laboratory for Integrated Nanophotonics and Biomaterials (LINB) in the Physics Department.
